WALLABIES coach Michael Cheika doesn’t expect Lukhan Tui will join the team for their Rugby Championship tour after indicating his desire to sit out the remainder of the season.

AAPSeptember 16, 201810:36am

Lukhan Tui in a heated altercation with a fan.Source:FOX SPORTS

WALLABIES coach Michael Cheika doesn’t expect Lukhan Tui will join the team for their Rugby Championship tour after indicating his desire to sit out the remainder of the season.

A distraught Tui told teammates he needed to take a break from rugby after his altercation with a spectator who had allegedly pushed his sister moments after Saturday night’s 23-19 defeat to Argentina.

It was an ugly end to an already emotional week for Tui’s family — his stepfather died suddenly on Wednesday and the Wallabies wore black armbands in his honour during the game on the Gold Coast.

Cheika on Tui fan scuffle

Cheika on Tui fan scuffle

Tui was still able to take his place in the starting team and played the full 80 minutes at blindside flanker.

But Cheika said the 21-year-old addressed the playing group after the match, telling them he needed to take time away from rugby and would cut his 2018 campaign short.

That means sitting out trips to South Africa and Argentina later this month — two hugely important clashes for a Wallabies team in the thick of a horrendous patch of form.

Wallabies player Lukhan Tui walks from the stands with a family member after he had an altercation with a spectator.Source:AAP

Cheika is hopeful he can talk Tui around but, as things stand, he doesn’t anticipate he will play in either of those matches.